Site-Specific and On-Demand High Heat-Flux Cooling Using Superlattice Based Thin-Film Thermoelectrics

Publication Type

Conference Paper

Date Published

07/2009

Authors

DOI

Abstract

We have recently reported the first ever demonstration of active cooling of hot-spots of >1 kW/cm2 in a packaged electronic chip using thin-film superlattice thermoelectric cooler (TEC) cooling technology [1]. In this paper, we provide a detailed account of both experimental and theoretical aspects of this technological demonstration and progress. We have achieved cooling of as much as 15°C at a location on the chip where the heat-flux is as high as ∼1300 W/cm2 , with the help of a thin-film TEC integrated into the package. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of high heat-flux cooling with a thin-film thermoelectric device made from superlattices when it is fully integrated into a usable electronic package. Our results, which validate the concept of site-specific micro-scale cooling of electronics in general, will have significant potential for thermal management of future generations of microprocessors. Similar active thermal management could also be relevant for high-performance solid-state lasers and power electronic chips.

Journal

ASME 2009 InterPACK Conference collocated with the ASME 2009 Summer Heat Transfer Conference and the ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability

Year of Publication

2009

Organization

Research Areas